The Hofstra Pride softball team faced a tough task to open up their 2017 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) slate: a meeting with the No. 10 James Madison University (JMU) Dukes. Day one produced two tough losses at Bill Edwards Stadium.
In a Saturday doubleheader, the Pride fell 10-4 to the 26-3 Dukes in game one, and then 10-1 in game two. In the first matchup, James Madison used a seven-run second inning to pull to an easy win, while game two ended after five innings via the mercy rule.
“We’re going to figure it out,” said head coach Larissa Anderson. “Our pitchers have to grow up, they have to understand what they need to do at this level and they’re going to keep getting better the more they get out there.”
Pitching in both games for JMU was 2016 CAA Pitcher of the Year Megan Good. To say Good is a dominant force in the circle is an understatement; she not only has picked up All-American awards in past seasons, but boasts an 0.20 ERA, the lowest mark in all of NCAA DI softball.
Good pitched in seven innings over the day’s two games, allowing just one hit total and one unearned run. With two victories, her unblemished record advanced to 18-0.
Not to be upstaged, the Dukes offense (which has a .343 team batting average) put on a clinic in the second inning of game one. Things got started with a Morgan Tolle two-RBI single. Tolle then moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Cambry Arnold’s following base hit. After a two-RBI double, the rally wrapped with an Odicci Alexander two-run homer. In just a few short minutes, James Madison held a commanding 7-0 lead.
“What I was disappointed with was with [pitcher] Alyssa Irons rolling out some ground balls we can make some plays behind her, we can get out of that second inning without a lot of damage done,” Anderson said.
Good exited after three innings of perfect ball and in Hofstra’s first at-bat against a new pitcher, it picked up its first hit when Kristin Hallam led off with a single. After moving up to third on back-to-back singles, she eventually brought home the Pride’s first run on a Lacey Clark sac fly.
After JMU’s Alexander hit her second homer of the afternoon, to make the score 8-1, Hofstra continued its offensive momentum in the bottom of the fifth. Three consecutive doubles equaled two runs for the Pride, one knocked in by Hallam, and the other by Megan Patierno. With Patierno at second, Brittany Allocca capped the three-run inning with a single to bring her home, bringing the score to 8-4. But those would be the Pride’s final runs of the game.
JMU limited Hofstra to a single hit in the final two innings, and picked up two insurance runs via two solo homers in the seventh to bring the score to its final of 10-4. Irons dropped to 0-6 after pitching 6.1 innings, allowing all 10 runs on 15 hits. Jessica Peslak then induced the final two outs in the circle for the Pride.
In game two, Hofstra held its only lead of the day, but only for a half inning in the bottom of the second. With Nikki Michalowski at second, Dukes second baseman Madison Naujokas misplayed a ball hit by Sarah Edwards, allowing Michalowski to score. Michalowski’s single was Hofstra’s only hit in game two, and the run was its only as well.
James Madison then went to work, manufacturing 10 runs in three innings, all off of game two starter Sarah Cornell. The first three runs came via home runs in the third and fourth.
Two runs in the third, and four apiece in the fourth and fifth brought an early end to the doubleheader, with JMU winning 10-1 in five innings.
Hofstra’s Cornell dropped to 8-5, the fourth loss she has suffered in her last five appearances.
“Cornell had to grow up today,” Anderson said, with a smile. “She’s got to learn that she can’t throw the ball in the same spot because against a team like James Madison, they’re going to hit it very hard.”
The loss was just the second time in the last 12 years that Hofstra lost their CAA opener, the only other time also coming against James Madison in 2014.
With both losses, Hofstra’s record dropped to 9-12, and 0-2 to start conference play. Hofstra returns to Bill Edwards Stadium Sunday at noon to try to salvage a win in the final game of the series against JMU.
